SAGINAW TOWNSHIP, MI — Saginaw Township’s Kroger store is requesting to add a garden center to its Green Acres Plaza location for more than two months this year.

As it has in years past, Kroger is requesting site plan approval from the Saginaw Township Planning Commission for the outdoor display. It's requesting to have the display for 77 days where 30 days are allowed.

“It’s basically like a garden center,” said Bridget Smith, Saginaw Township’s assistant director of community development. “They’ve done it for the past couple of years.”

There will be a public hearing on the matter during the planning commission’s Wednesday, March 20, meeting at 7 p.m. at Saginaw Township Hall.

Smith said the planning commission has approved similar requests from Kroger in the past and the store has done “a wonderful job maintaining traffic and parking flow.”

“I see no reason why it wouldn’t be approved this time around,” she said.

But, “as the plaza continues to fill up, parking becomes more and more at a premium,” she said, which is why Kroger must submit a new request each year.